“From what I hear, he and his campaign went out and bought the cover shoot. Melania did a cover story for ‘GQ,’ a very strong modeling picture. No big deal,” Trump said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“But it was a cover story for ‘GQ,’ a big magazine. And it was, you know, fine. And from what I hear, somebody bought the rights to it and he was the one or his campaign bought the rights and they gave it to the super-PAC.”

Trump said Cruz knew about the ad, adding he started the latest fight between the two. Last week, Trump threatened to “spill the beans” on Cruz’s wife in response to the ad featuring Melania Trump. He then shared a tweet featuring a photo of his wife next to a photo of Cruz’s wife, stating, “A picture is worth a thousands words.”

Cruz has denied knowing anything about the ad, and called it deplorable on Sunday.”